Maloney shows his class in the Sprint

Taking a break from his Formula Regional campaign in Europe, Zane Maloney won in both directions at Saturday’s Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Double-Header Sprint at Bushy Park, St Philip. Run behind closed doors, in line with current Covid-19 directives, the opening event of the BRC’s Driver’s and Class Championships was a close-fought affair, as drivers embraced the return to competition after a six-month break.

In Event One, driving the Skoda Fabia R5 campaigned last year by his uncle Stuart, Maloney was quickest on the first run, with a time of 2m 30.57s, just 19/100ths ahead of Dane Skeete’s Subaru Impreza WRC S12. Stuart Maloney, armed with a new Fabia Rally2 Evo, was third (2:31.46) with an impressive debut for Adam Mallalieu, sharing father Andrew’s Ford Fiesta R5 for the first time, slotting him in fourth (2:32.97).

Non-starter Ahmed Esuf (Fiesta) had reduced the record-breaking FIA R5 class entry to eight, of which three more – Roger Hill (Fabia), Mallalieu Snr and the Turks & Caicos Rally Team’s Stan Hartling, driving his Fiesta in competition for the first time – were ahead of number one seed, Jamaica’s Jeff Panton (Fiesta WRC) on the first run.

Teenager Maloney improved by more than 3secs on his second run, 2:27.43 would be his best, as did uncle Stuart (2:27.48), while Skeete did not record a time, to slip to fourth in the order behind multiple circuit champion Mark Maloney, who was sharing the older Fabia with Zane. While Skeete improved on his third run (2:27.64) to slot in behind Zane and Stuart Maloney – just two-tenths spread across the trio – Panton was still in trouble, spinning near the finish of run three and losing time finding a gear. The Jamaican finally redeemed himself in the last of four runs, clocking 2:28.29 to place him fourth, less than 1sec adrift of the winner

The rest of the top 10 also set their best times on the final run, Mark Maloney moving to fifth (2:28.41), Adam Mallalieu slipping to sixth (2:29.18) but still ahead of father Andrew (2:32.15), with Hill (2:32.54) eight ahead of the Turks & Caicos pair of Paul Horton (Fiesta – 2:34.55) and Hartling (2:34.77).

Event One started by the drag racing start pad, the course heading uphill to the service road behind Race Control, back down through the tunnel, right on the circuit, then repeating that loop before including most of the International Circuit and the Rallycross Bridge. Event Two ran in the opposite direction, with only one loop of the service road.

By now sharing the Fabia Rally2 Evo with both uncles, Stuart and Mark, as the older car had developed engine problems, Zane was again quickest on the first run (2:19.36), with Stuart, (2:22.82), Panton (2:22.61), Skeete (2:22.82) and, once again, Adam Mallalieu (2:23.00) the closest challengers. While the youngest Maloney maintained his advantage despite missing the second run, the others all improved, Skeete moving ahead of Panton to second and the younger Mallalieu outpacing Stuart Maloney, although he would slip behind again by the finish as he was the only one of the top six not to improve again. Hill finished sixth, ahead of Mark Maloney, Horton and Andrew Mallalieu, with Josh Read’s Toyota Starlet 10th and top 2wd (two-wheel-drive).

Of his victories, 17-year-old Maloney said: “I came out to have some fun, but the engine had an issue, so we had to jump in to share uncle Stuart’s new Skoda. I tried to focus on getting the most out of the car, while still being smooth and nailing the exits, which is the quickest way. Once I am here for Sol Rally Barbados, I’d like to have a go.”

Panton said: “The first two runs my times were way off and I had a spin into the gate by the finish, but I got closer to Dane and Zane in the other runs and the other direction. I don’t know if the car doesn’t suit the tighter track courses, but I felt comfortable today, so congrats to Zane.”

Skeete, meanwhile, was just pleased to be back in action: “I was glad to smell some race fuel after being out of the car for so long. I can’t say that I felt out of touch in the car as the circuit isn’t the truest representation of the road, however competition is competition and I was happy to get some runs in.”

As expected the battle for 2wd and SuperModified 2 honours was spectacular, Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII) painting black stripes on the road right from his launch off the startline for the first run, while Barry Mayers (Ford Fiesta) had an unexpected spin in the morning after a bad landing over the Rallycross Bridge. But Read’s Starlet prevailed: “It was a great day and enjoyable. We have been making some changes and have the car back on 13-inch rims and it’s running quite well. However, I’m under no impression that today’s order will be the same when we get onto road rallying, but we’ll see.”

Outside R5, the biggest class was Clubman 2, six of the BimmaCup regulars battling it out; while Derek Edwards and Harold Morley set the pace early in Event One and improved on runs 3 and 2 respectively, Chris Hoad’s run 4 time eclipsed them both. Hoad repeated the result in the opposite direction, Morley this time beating Edwards.(RB)

BRC Double-Header Sprint:

Bushy Park – Saturday, June 5

BRC Driver’s & Class Championships, round 1

1st Zane Maloney (FIA R5 Skoda Fabia R5), 2m 27.43s

2nd Stuart Maloney (FIA R5 Skoda Fabia R5), + 00.05s

3rd Dane Skeete (WRC Subaru Impreza WRC S12), + 00.21s

4th Jeffrey Panton – JAM (WRC KIG Ford Fiesta WRC), + 00.86s

5th Mark Maloney (FIA R5 Skoda Fabia R5), + 00.98s

6th Adam Mallalieu (FIA R5 Ford Fiesta R5), + 01.73s

7th Andrew Mallalieu (FIA R5 Ford Fiesta R5), + 04.72s

8th Roger Hill (FIA R5 Skoda Fabia R5), + 05.11s

9th Paul Horton – TCI (FIA R5 Ford Fiesta R5), + 07.12s

10th Stan Hartling – TCI (FIA R5 Ford Fiesta R5), + 07.34s